Lifestyle Or Style Of Life?

Flipping through the channels today I discovered how unhappy I am. A guy came on and said that I would be more Ramboish if I drove an 8500-pound military-style assault vehicle. I drive a Toyota. Real men drive SUVs that get 8 miles to the gallon, take up two lanes of traffic, and cost more than most homes. Click.

I have to admit that the tire commercial made me a little nervous. I learned that I was risking my children’s lives because my tires do not offer confident, all-season performance and significant road noise reduction. Click.

I now know why I can’t run faster and jump higher. My running shoes do not provide column-and-place configuration creating a forward propulsion and energy return that leaves my legs feeling less fatigued. Here I was thinking that running was supposed to be fatiguing. I have much to learn. Click.

Taking a drink of ordinary tap water I learned that my refreshment was far from refreshing. I would be healthier I was told if I would drink cool, vibrant, refreshingly clear, purified and enhanced with minerals, pure, fresh water bottled in New York City. Hmmmm...

Bruce Goettsche wrote, “Contentment is an illusive commodity today. In fact, much of the business world works hard to breed discontent so that we will buy their product and keep the economy healthy. They tell us something is "new and improved" so we will feel that we have less than the best and are somehow "behind the times." Gambling institutions (including lottery officials) show us pictures of what we could do with the winnings of the lottery. They are deliberately trying to make us feel dissatisfied with life by playing to our greed. They want us to believe that we are not significant if we don't have the best and the newest.”

I find it sometimes difficult to tell the difference between needs and wants. I want a lot, but I need very little. Needs are few such as God’s love, food, water, clothing, and a lean-to. Wants are many as testified from just about anything coming down from Madison Avenue. I am learning that like the Apostle Paul, I can choose to be content or be a slave to paid advertising:

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” (Phil. 4:11)

What I am discovering is that I can learn to be content and live a simpler life. To do this I must intentionally focus on living with less than on desiring more. I purposely do this by giving things away out of my need and abundance instead of getting more stuff. I can also value what I now have more than dwelling on what I do not have. I find it helpful in seeing God’s love in what He provides, knowing that everything will pass away (1 John 2:17). I think that is what Paul is saying when he said, “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 Timothy 6:8)

I realize that my selfish, materialistic nature causes me much anxiety. It is only when I realize that God is able to more than provide for my need that I become an over-comer. My insecurity becomes obvious to everyone but me when I lust after money. The writer of Hebrews said: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). I have to trust God to meet all my need.

Charles Rush writes, “This is the irony of coveting. It makes us blind to our own wealth, prevents us from enjoying the beauty that is already ours. So many people don’t enjoy the home they have because their eyes are fixed on their neighbor’s home. They don’t swim in the friendships available to them because they covet those who live in the world of glamour. They don’t drink in the color and quality of their own street because they covet the mythical house on the hill that keeps getting bigger and better appointed as we make more money and seem to stay consistently in the distance like a mirage in the desert. No, the irony of coveting is that it robs us of what we already have - including sound judgments about life.”

What have I learned about finding contentment? Three principles:

1) I must seek after God and choose to be content. Contentment is a daily choice. I have to come to the place where I really believe that more doesn't equal happier. To find contentment, I must choose to turn to God first, to fill my thoughts with His desires, to take His character for my pattern, and to serve and obey Him in everything – I must simplify my life.

2) I must say I am content. I have to tell myself, "I have enough." I have to push back from the table and the table of what this world has to offer and say, "Enough." When I receive a bonus or a raise in pay I need to say to the Lord, "I have enough; Lord, how do you want me to use this for You and Your kingdom?"

3) I have to settle the difference between important and essential. David wrote, "If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them" (Psalm 62:10). I must not allow my income to dictate my lifestyle. I must ask myself when I am about to purchase something that I think will make me happy, “Is this thing going to better my lifestyle or my style of life?” I must choose a realistic level of living and not compromise by spending more just because more arrives. I have to realize that if I don’t choose my lifestyle the world will choose it for me, and it will probably be one beyond my means. I have to let my lifestyle be biblically based; making it eternally focused. Paul said: "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in."

Contentment is something we learn; we have to work at it daily, starting today. What is really important to you?

Grow in grace and truth,

Doug Morrell